There's been rather a lot of ink spilled about indie music queen Amanda Palmer's show with her novelist husband, Neil Gaiman, Saturday at Bard College in New York. And deservedly so … I was there, and it was a terribly engaging three hours-odd, comprising an eclectic bevy of poems, songs, stories and adorable married-people banter.

But oddly, none of the stories that has emerged since has made note of Boston singer-songwriter Sarah Borrello, who opened the evening with a rousing piano performance. And that's kind of a shame, because she was both unexpected and fantastic. Her song “Stranglehold” is available online as a single, and frankly, it's an electrifying bit of rocking piano blues:

It's hard not to make comparisons to the great Fiona Apple — there's definitely a similar vibe, with the thunderous key-pounding and the defiantly scratchy wail that seems to want to claw its way out of the song — but this is clearly a musician who is on her way up, and I'm looking forward to hearing more.

Palmer also played a new song, tentatively titled “The Thing About Things,” which she performed both at Bard and the night before in Northampton. It's a melancholy little number, but definitely worth a listen.

Elsewhere, indie darlings Vampire Weekend have a new video for their song “Diane Young,” from their forthcoming album, “Modern Vampires of the City.” Curiously, the video is solely footage of a Saab 900 burning in slow motion:

Not that the song needs more embellishment. This is really straight up rock 'n' roll, more reminiscent of Buddy Holly than anything else. The song has an upbeat kick, and moves along at a vigorous clip.

Also making the rounds is “My God Is the Sun,” the latest offering from Queens of the Stone Age”:

There's a great deal of propulsion going on here for such a heavy song. Everything weighs on the listener, even though the guitar zigzags manically, threading in and out of ominous bass and percussion. That's not really a complaint — the result is melodramatic and engaging.

Lastly, Facebook has been overrun today with just how horribly bad Brad Paisley's collaboration with LL Cool J, “Accidental Racist,” is. After listening to the song … yeah. It really is that bad. As just about every aspect of the song is ill-advised and more than a little cringe-worthy, let's just pretend it never happened. (Victor D. Infante)